It All Started With An Apple

Chapter 35

I padded frantically down the long hallway, my heart hammering loudly in my chest.  Sweat beaded my forehead, causing my hair to cling to my face uncomfortably.  I barely noticed it, though.  My eyes were trained on the end of the doorway.  It was lit mysteriously, like objects usually were in horror films.  Doctors and patients littered the hallway, chatting casually amongst each other.  I pushed past them without murmuring so much as an apology.  I had one thing on my mind, and one thing only.

Dannon.

“Something’s happened,” they’d said.  “We need you to come in immediately.”

I’d been in the middle of history class.  Dannon’s empty seat was haunting, piercing me every time I spared it a glance.  History wasn’t the same without him looking over my shoulder, laughing as I snapped at him for scaring me.  It wasn’t the same without the playful teasing or the animated conversations.  It just . . . wasn’t right.  At all.

My cell phone rang in the middle of Mrs. Carl’s sentence.  She hadn’t glared, though.  Everyone knew that I kept my cell phone in case the hospital called with news about Dannon’s condition.  He’d been in a coma for three weeks now.  There was no sign of him waking up, no sign that I would ever see his affectionate eyes, his loving smile again.

“What’s happened?” I demanded loudly as I threw the doors of Dannon’s room open.

The doctors simply stared at me with melancholy eyes.  I glared, placing my hands on my hips, swallowing down the fear that was threatening to overwhelm me.  Why weren’t they saying anything?  Why were their gazes connected with my forehead and not my eyes?

“What’s happened?” I repeated, my voice hardening.  “Dammit!  Tell me what’s happened to him!”

The first doctor, the taller of the two, placed his hands neatly in front of him.  Finally, his gaze met mine.  “I’m afraid Dannon has left us,” he murmured softly.  “I’m so sorry, Brianne.”

I shook my head violently, refusing to believe it.  No.  That couldn’t be.  He had three days left before his deadline was up.  I had three days left with him!  “You’re lying!” I shrieked, my voice rising hysterically.

I pushed passed them, throwing myself out of the doorway and into the room.  He was residing in the cancer patients’ sector.  In my daily visits, I’d come to know many of the patients here.  There was Cammy, the little girl going through chemo.  There was Zachary, the teen who was going to be discharged in a few days.

I threw myself around Dannon’s lifeless body, tears streaming down my cheeks.  “He had three days left!” I wept to no one.  “Three days!”

The doctors, having seemingly disappeared from the room entirely, appeared out of nowhere, prying me away from him.  I resisted, thrashing my elbows out as I screeched at them to let me go.  But none of that mattered.  They were too strong.  “No!” I hissed.  “Let me stay with him.”

“Brianne, you must let go,” the doctor whispered in my ear.  “You must let go.”

The words echoed through my head, becoming my entire being.  You must let go.  You must let go.  You must let go.

I screeched, consciousness suddenly coming forth like a bucket of water had been splashed on my face.  Tears from the horrible dream soaked my cheeks.  I hurried to wipe them away, looking around at my surroundings.  I was in Kyla’s room, the scenery almost as familiar as my own bedroom.  Polka dot hangings sat atop the window, blowing lightly in the early morning breeze.  Clothes were thrown haphazardly around the room, covering the light purple rug.  Her television sat on the floor, banished there when Kyla decided to chuck her desk (“It’s as ugly as hell!”).